New arrivals from Ethiopia, uncover their potential

Once again, Ethiopia surprises us with amazing coffee, and finally we can say WE HAVE FRESH ARRIVALS FROM ETHIOPIA FOR YOU!

To ensure  this long-awaited day, our team at Nordic Approach and our sister company, Tropiq, have followed a rigorous process to be able to present you this treat. Hence, yes! We are very excited to hear your thoughts on them!

We have listed the cooperatives and washing stations because knowing the story behind our products makes it so much more meaningful, followed by the coffee they produce. Remember that if any of these catch your attention, you can get a sample! It is as easy as entering the link or contacting us.

Duromina Cooperative

We discovered Duromina and other cooperative washing stations, like Nano Challa and Biftu Gudina, the year they were established, and from the beginning we realized that this was going to be a different kind of operation. Certainly, we were right. Duromina succeeded in producing high quality coffees from its first year and has introduced a great new range of coffee flavors. 

Duromina currently has two washing stations which have been producing award-winning coffees and providing financial benefits to the farmers. They have hundreds of members who deliver cherry and receive a second payment after harvest, once the coffee has been milled and graded for quality. Non-members sell their coffee to these washing stations as well. 

Technoserve is the organization behind Duromina, an NGO supporting the farmers in setting up washing stations and new cooperative structures. With transparent and environmentally friendly production methods, their aim is to improve sustainability and quality in the west, and to increase premiums for the producers in Ethiopia.

Biftu Gudina Cooperative

Biftu Gudina is a cooperative established in 2012. They have two washing stations under the Cooperative,  so that way they can access cherries from more farmers in their local surroundings. They are located in an area of Ethiopia starting to get known for very flavor intense and spicy coffees with unique attributes. 

The coffee is the result of a sustainable Technoserve project in the west, based on transparency and increased quality production, which has revealed a new wide range of coffee flavors not found elsewhere. 

572 smallholders are part of the cooperative. They also qualify for a second payment, contributing to an increase in the income of local coffee farmers.

Nano Challa Cooperative

Nano Challa is a cooperative and washing station established in 2009, from which we’ve been buying coffees since 2013. They were the first washing station in Agaro, set up as part of the Technoserve coffee initiative that established farmer training programs, implemented a traceability system and improved the coffee income of hundreds of farmers. 

The cooperative has about 500 members from the Genji Chala area. This a region where coffee has recently gained a reputation for being extremely flavorful and spiced with unique flavors. 

The cherries for this lot are selected from smallholders with less than 3 hectares per farm. Prior to the establishment of these cooperatives, farmers produced mostly lower grade naturals, which were sold as Jimma Grade 5.

Bensa Washing Station

Bensa is a washing station owned by Testi Coffee Exporters and located in Sidamo with 800 active farmer members. The region of Sidamo is well-known to most people, however with the privatization of the coffee industry in the past 3 years, new areas have emerged, leading to some crossovers between Sidamo and a less known region called West Arsi.

Bensa is located between the borders of both regions, and because of its proximity to the Bale Mountain National Park, it has developed a surprisingly wide variety of profiles. 

We have been watching the Bensa area for a while now, as we were there the first time 8 years ago, and it has been a pleasure to work with the Testi Exporters team. Faisel Abdosh is the owner of seven washing stations as well as the owner of the export business. Later, he was later joined by his cousin Adam in 2014. Testi offers coffees at different quality and price levels, including the specialty coffees we source. A few of Faisel’s washing stations produce the specific profiles we are after.

In partnership with customers, Testi has built two schools in Guji and Yirgacheffe and provided the materials for their operation. Now, they plan to build water pumps to give the community access to clean drinking water in order to continue supporting the farmers in Ethiopia.

Hambela Bedessa Washing Station

The town is located in Hambela Wamena, a well-known part of Guji that emerged from the privatization of coffee in Ethiopia in 2017, which consistently produces intense and expressive flavour profiles.

Last year, we bought this coffee for the first time, and we loved it so much that we decided to keep buying it now in 2022.

Asnake Kasa is our Ethiopian partner, the founder of Power Coffee Trading, and a specialist in specialty coffee. He has worked across a variety of areas including cupping, agronomy, training, sustainability, quality control, export coordination, logistics, and others.

Knowing him for several years, we can assure that his attention to detail and processing skills bring out the true flavours and potential of Ethiopian coffee.

Danche Washing Station

Danche is a washing station located in Chelbesa, Gedeo which has organic certification. They buy cherries from 400 farmers, who produce good yields thanks to fertile soil and excellent farming methods. 

Our partner is SNAP COFFEE, established in Addis Ababa in 2008, by coffee-passionate entrepreneur, Negusse D. Weldyes. The company runs three coffee washing and processing stations in Chelelektu, Kochere District of the Gedeo Zone and partnering washing stations in Uraga (Guji) and Nensebo (West Arsi). Above all, theirs supply policy rests on three main pillars:

• Process specialty coffee consistently.
• Transfer the required know-how to the outgrowing farmers, along with a great desire and training in processing and cleaning methods.
• Protect the environment through waste recycling systems.

SNAP COFFEE’s employs 253 people, of which 13 work in their speciality coffee exporting business, and supports the local community of smallholders through partnerships with washing station owners.

For instance, they have built schools, provided computers and other facilities and have constructed roads for less accessible farming areas. In a future, they have also planned to build health clinics for farmers to access healthcare.

Tempted? You must give these arrivals from Ethiopia a try!

1. You can order a sample of each coffee by clicking on the link.
2. Contact us 
   1. Get in touch with your sales representative and ask for the sample of your favorite new arrival from Ethiopia.
   2. If it’s your first time, send an email to coffee@nordicapproach.no or visit the FAQs section to get answers.

Likewise, if you are as fascinated by Ethiopia as we are, you can heck more of our posts. Here’s the first one.

Hope to hear from you soon!

Arrivals from Ethiopia

Coffe arrivals from Ethiopia